In the milk producing industry animal diseases are of constant concern. A serious disease which is common among milk producing animals is mastitis. Mastitis is a bacterial disease and may easily be spread throughout a herd of livestock from a single infected animal. Mastitis effects the ability of the milk producing animal to give milk and is spread between animals by the mastitis bacteria contacting a healthy animal and traveling up the milk canal of the animal.
Typical of the steps taken to control and prevent the spreading of mastitis is the type of procedure discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,696 to Keith. Keith, while directly concerned with the apparatus involved in the procedure, demonstrates the use of antiseptic solutions and suspensions. The procedure discussed in Keith is excellent for disinfecting purposes during the actual milking process; however, it does not provide a suitable solution to the control and isolation of the mastitis bacteria.
The actual spreading of the mastitis bacteria from an infected animal to a healthy animal normally would not occur during the milking process because of the strict sanitary conditions present. Instead, the actual spreading of the mastitis bacteria occurs as the infected animals mingle with the healthy animals in the field. Further, the bacteria may be carried by flying insects as they move about a group of animals. Another common method of spreading the bacteria occurs when the bacteria drops from an infected animal, perhaps while walking or grazing and comes into contact with a healthy animal. This method of infecting healthy animals is common when viewed in light of the characteristics of livestock. Typically, cattle walk single file on a worn path to and from the field to the milking buildings. Some bacteria drops off the infected animal into heavy grass only to re-attach itself to another animal coming into contact with it.
Therefore, between the disinfecting process that occurs at each milking, there is a good chance of healthy animals coming into contact with the bacteria and obtaining mastitis. Thus, there is a need for a method of preventing healthy livestock from contracting the mastitis bacteria from infected animals.
The most obvious solution would be isolating the infected animal. However, by the time an infected animal is diagnosed, the bacteria may be spread to several other animals in the herd. Further, complete isolation of one or more animals to the degree of preventing insects from frequenting the animal would be for all practical purposes impossible for a farmer.